Stalybridge Canal Street Primitive Methodist chapel

The return from Stalybridge Primitive Methodist chapel to the 1851 Census of Places of Public Religious worship was completed by the minister, Thomas Jobling of 79 Grasscroft Street. He tells us that the building opened in 1833 and held 354 people. Attendance on Census Sunday was 40 in the morning service, 115 in the afternoon, and 195 in the evening. The afternoon Sunday school attracted 199 scholars.

The 1851 Ordnance Survey plan shows a Primitive Methodist chapel at the south west quadrant of the junction of Canal Street and Grasscroft Street. Immediately to the south on Canal Street is a burial ground. By the 1894 plan the burial ground is labelled as ‘disused’.  By the 1898 map the original chapel still stands but a larger chapel has been built on the burial grounds.

The laying of the foundation stones for this second Stalybridge Primitive Methodist chapel is recorded in the 1892 Primitive Methodist magazine. The building was expected to cost around £1,600 of which they had already raised two-thirds. The opening of this second chapel is recorded in the Primitive Methodist magazine of February 1893

Both buildings are still shown although unlabelled on the 1965 map. By the 1980s map they have been replaced by Gorse Hall Primary School.

The whole area has been redeveloped and that part of Canal Street is now called Forrester Drive.  You can see a picture of the former chapel here.

Reference

Primitive Methodist magazine 1892 June page 379

Primitive Methodist magazine February 1893 page 124